


Ease My Mind

by gardenofmaris



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Sugar Daddy, Daddy Kink, Dirty Talk, Lingerie, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Public Blow Jobs, Shopping, Teasing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-08-29
Packaged: 2019-06-16 00:13:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15424755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gardenofmaris/pseuds/gardenofmaris
Summary: “No. No,” he gasped, brushing his hair out of his face, dragging a pained breath into his lungs. “I just didn’t know who else to call about this. I need your help.”“Okay. What do you need my help with? Name it.”“That website you used before you met Shiro. What was it?”He heard a sharp intake of breath and silence. After a few moments of silence, Lance was starting to get worried. “Keith?”“What happened? Did you lose your job?”





	1. Chapter 1

Lance stared in shock at his boss, feeling as if someone was squeezing his heart and lungs until he couldn’t breathe. No. This couldn’t be happening. It wasn’t true.

“Please. You have to believe me.” His voice was rough, choking back unshed tears as he tried desperately to plead with Sal. “I didn’t take that money. There’s no way I would ever do something like that.”

Sal sighed, rubbing a hand over his face and pinching the bridge of his nose. He looked pensive as he bent over, clearly considering something.

“Look kid. I’m gonna tell it to you straight. I don’t really think you took that money.”

Hope blossomed in Lance’s chest and he sat up a little straighter.

“But somebody’s gotta take the blame for what happened, and you were the one who closed last night. There was no one else in the shop, at least not that the cameras captured.”

With every word out of Sal’s mouth, the invisible hand from before clamped itself around Lance’s throat and chest again, and he whimpered softly. He knew what was coming with every fiber of his being, but he refused to cry. He wouldn’t do it. His mami had never cried when she lost a job, and he was going to be just as strong as she was.

He cleared his throat, looking down and taking a deep breath before looking Sal in the eyes. “I understand.”

He didn’t. He didn’t understand. Sure, on some level he did, but almost every other part of him was screaming in protest, yelling that it wasn’t fair, it wasn’t right, he didn’t deserve this.

Sal’s face softened as much as it ever did, probably in response to the broken note in Lance’s voice at those words. “Kid. Here’s the deal. Like I said, I really don’t think you took that money. So I’ll put downsizing as the reason we let you go on the official paperwork, and when you go in for another interview at another place, you tell them to give me a call. I’ll tell them how great you did here, and I won’t breathe a word of this to anyone. That way this doesn’t ruin you. If you did take that money, you get a second chance. If you didn’t, like I’m thinking, then… Well, I can sleep better at night.”

Lance nodded, knowing that this was as good as it was going to get, and silently thanking God that Sal believed in his innocence.

But that wasn’t going to pay his bills.

He left the convenience store dejectedly, running his hands through his hair as he considered his options. Now t hat every dollar was worth so much more, he really didn’t want to take a taxi or a bus home. But Hunk wasn’t supposed to get out of work for another four hours.

His stomach rumbled, begging him for food, and he sighed. He couldn’t afford to buy food from anywhere either.

Lance stood on the sidewalk outside, mulling over everything for a solid ten minutes, before deciding that it was better to take the free option. He was going to need that money.

Remembering that there was a park nearby, he started to walk in that direction. He kept his head down, not in the mood to talk to people at that moment. It was easy to lose himself in the rhythm of walking, watching each step as his foot hit the ground, almost as if he was playing a mental game. He couldn’t do it for long, however, because the end of the block came quickly, and he didn’t feel like getting hit by a car, even as shitty as he felt.

He texted Hunk with his address and sat down on a bench to wait for his friend to get off of work. Lance let his head fall back to watch the bright sky above him, the light filtering in through the trees as the birds chirped and hopped from branch to branch above them. He envied them, their simple lives, their lack of worries, and he envisioned himself growing wings, flying away from it all, forgetting all of his troubles.

But that wasn’t real life. He sighed, closing his eyes and trying to relax, and the next thing he knew, there was a hand shaking his shoulder. Lance jumped, pushing at the person in fear, sure that he was going to get mugged, the only thought in his mind that it was beyond stupid to fall asleep in a park alone, defenseless, unguarded.

“Woah, Lance, buddy, it’s me, Hunk.”

Lance sagged into the bench, groaning as the movement jostled his neck. Apparently the position he’d fallen asleep in had  _ not _ been good for his neck, because wow he was in pain. He grimaced, rubbing his neck and stretching the muscles to try and alleviate some of the aching.

“What are you doing in this park? Aren’t you supposed to be at work right now?”

Oh. Work. Right. Lance stopped rubbing his neck, dropping his arms into his lap and letting his head fall as all the emotions came rushing back.

“Lance? Is everything okay?”

With a detached sort of horror, Lance watched as a tear fell onto his jeans, wetting the fabric and turning it a darker blue. He reached up, sniffling as he wiped away the threatening wave of tears.

Hunk, bless him, understood.

“Oh, Lance. I’m so sorry.”

Lance felt his comforting weight settle on the bench next to him, and he willingly let himself get pulled into his best friend’s arms, burying his face into Hunk’s neck as he cried.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he sobbed.

“Shhh,” Hunk soothed, rubbing his back. “You don’t have to figure it all out right now. You’re smart. You have about a month’s worth of savings set up. You can still help out with the rent and bills and food, and in the meantime, I’ll pick up a few more shifts. You’ll find a job in no time.”

Lance whimpered, clutching onto Hunk’s shirt. “Are you sure?”

Hands brushed over his hair, Hunk pressing a comforting kiss on top of his head. “Of course I am. No one works harder than you. They’ll see that. Everything will be okay.”

Lance wasn’t as sure as Hunk was, but he was willing to try.

And he did try. He tried until he was drooping from exhaustion with all the hours put in searching for jobs, until he’d lost weight from how many meals he was skipping because he couldn’t afford them. Hunger had become his constant companion. How he was going to pay for tuition or books or supplies when school started in three weeks, Lance had no clue. He was desperate, and no one was hiring, or at least, no one was hiring him.

He didn’t want to worry Hunk. Hunk was already doing so much, taking on so much extra just to keep supporting Lance and all that he couldn’t pay. His savings account was low in the double digits, haunting him.

It wasn’t any wonder that Hunk wanted to add a third roommate.

“I just think that it’d be easier on the both of us financially if there’s a third person to help pay.”

Lance ignored how much it stung that Hunk wouldn’t look him in the eye and placed a gentle hand on top of Hunk’s. “Hey, it’s okay. I totally get it, and if you’re up for it, I am too.”

The pure relief on Hunk’s face twisted the knife in Lance’s chest, and he smiled dully at his friend.

“I’m feeling like this calls for a little celebration. How about I walk down to that store a few blocks away and see if I can find some junk food or something? My treat.”

“Oh, uh. Are you sure?” Hunk’s eyebrows drew together, obviously concerned.

“Yeah, of course. Gotta enjoy the little things in life, ya know?” Lance gave Hunk another winning smile, the one not even his best friend could see through.

Hunk smiled back, pulling Lance into a tight hug. “Okay.”

Lance let Hunk fawn over him for a few more minutes before pulling away with a forced laugh. “Okay, I’m just gonna go get that food now.”

“Stay safe,” Hunk called as he headed out.

“Always.”

As soon as he was sure that he was far enough away that Hunk wouldn’t see him if he had to step outside, Lance found a bench on the side of the dark street and pulled out his phone. He scrolled through his contacts, biting his lip as he considered what exactly it was that he was about to do. He didn’t even know if it was going to work. But he had to try.

He pressed ‘Call’.

…

_ “Keith, Lance, the two of you will be working together for this project.” _

_ “But Professor-” _

_ “What?” _

_ A raised hand. “No objections. The two of you have to end this silly rivalry. You’re the brightest minds in my class. You’d do well to work together, rather than against each other. And don’t even think about trying to turn something in that’s only one of your work. I’ll know, and I’ll fail the both of you without hesitation.” _

…

_ Keith slammed his books on the table. “I’m giving up my date to meet you, so your idea had better be a good one.” _

_ Lance scoffed, eyeing his nails in a bored fashion. “Whoever she is, I’m sure she’ll be fine.” _

_ “He.” Keith’s voice was low. “And this was his last day before he had to leave on a business trip for a month.” He paused. “He’s never been gone this long.” _

_ Lance straightened up, an uncomfortable feeling squirming in his gut as he stared at Keith, who was giving the metal table a particularly intense stare. _

_ “Go.” _

_ Keith’s head snapped up. “What?” _

_ “The project will still be here tomorrow. I’ll get someone to cover my shift. But go on your date.” _

_ For the first time since they’d started their stupid rivalry, Keith’s face softened. _

_ “Thank you.” _

…

_ “So what’s your ‘boyfriend’ even do, if he does things like go on business trips for a month?” _

_ A sigh. “Focus on the work please.” _

_ “We’ve been working for a solid three hours and my brain hurts. I want to get to know you. So I’m asking about the only thing I know about you.” Lance gasped. “Is your boyfriend a mob boss?” _

_ Keith looked up from where he’d been meticulously scribbling formulas, giving Lance a deadpan stare. “What on Earth makes you think that Shiro’s a mob boss?” _

_ “Ah, so his name’s Shiro!” Lance crowed. “And I don’t know. Maybe the fact that you look like you could be part of the mob sometimes, with your whole,” he gestured up and down Keith’s body, “emo killer vibe that you’ve got going on sometimes. Plus, you’ve always got the best of everything, so this ‘Shiro’ is definitely loaded.” _

_ Sighing, Keith pushed his chair away from the table. “I think we’re done for today.” _

_ “Aw, Keith. Come on. You’ve gotta give me some clues here.” _

_ “We’re not talking about this.” _

…

_ “I know your secret, Keithy-boo.” _

_ Keith rubbed his hands over his face. “Don’t do this to me, Lance. We’re presenting this fucking project tomorrow. I’m stressed as all hell, and I’m not in the mood for this.” He let his hands fall to the table with a ‘ _ slap _ ’. “And seriously? ‘Keithy-boo’? The fuck kind of nickname is that?” _

_ Lance’s shiteating grin was plastered all over his face and he shrugged, leaning back in his chair and tilting it on its back legs, having ignored all of Keith’s previous warnings that he’d fall like that. “What can I say? It just rolls off the tongue. And look, I’ve got it all figured out. I’m surprised I never figured it out earlier.” _

_ “Uh huh. Do I want to know what you’ve figured out?” _

_ “Well see,” Lance began, rocking on the chair’s legs. “You’re a college student with no job, yet you somehow have the best of everything. You’ve never mentioned any parents, so while you could just have rich parents, you don’t act like the assholes I know who grew up with money. Actually, you act more like the people I knew who grew up with very little money. Your boyfriend goes on business trips for a month, which means he’s high up wherever he is and has loads of money. Connect A with B, and voila. You’re a sugar baby, aren’t you?” _

_ Lance didn’t actually believe anything he was saying, until Keith’s eyes went wide and his face went a bright red. He leaned forward, body jolting as the chair fell onto all four legs. _

_ “Holy shit. I’m right, right?” _

_ “Who have you told?” Keith hissed, grabbing Lance’s shirt and pulling him close, too close for Lance’s bi heart. _

_ He pulled himself away from staring at Keith’s eyes or lips or face in general to look down, face red as he mumbled, “No one. I didn’t really think it was true. I was just fucking around, like with the mob boss thing.” _

_ Keith let go, rubbing his face again and leaning back in his chair. “Well, yes, you’re right. If I’d known you were joking, I probably would have tried to brush it off, but I’ve always been bad at telling when people are joking.” _

_ Lance laughed softly. “That’s okay. And hey. Keith?” _

_ Keith looked over at Lance, a question in his eyes. _

_ “There’s no judgement from me here.” He smiled at Keith genuinely, surprised when Keith returned it. _

_ “Um, if you don’t mind me asking-” _

_ “Why did I start and how did I meet Shiro?” _

_ Lance blushed and rubbed the back of his neck, ducking his head. “Yeah.” _

_ Keith smiled, moving to sit properly in the chair again and looking at the ground, obviously caught up in the memory of whatever he was reliving. _

_ “It was a little over a year ago. I’d lost my job and I wasn’t having any luck finding one. An acquaintance told me about this website where I could go and sign up and match with people who would pay for my companionship. I was desperate. I needed to pay for school and food and heat, especially because it was winter. It wasn’t easy, and I met some real creeps who wanted some really disgusting things from me, but I eventually found Shiro.” Keith’s smile was soft. “It started as a simple business transaction, but… It’s more now. He cares about me, and I care about him.” _

_ “Is it always like that?” _

_ “The first part, yeah. There’s a lot of weeding through to make sure you’re safe and that you don’t accidentally meet a serial killer or something. But finding someone legitimate and safe is possible. The second part? It’s pretty rare. For the most part, it starts a business transaction and it ends a business transaction.” _

_ “Wow.” _

…

“Lance?” Keith’s voice was cracked with sleep, and suddenly Lance wasn’t sure what he was doing anymore.

“Ha. I knew you were a phone number hoarder too.” His voice was shaky and didn’t quite hide his panic, but he made sure to insert enough of that tone that he knew grated on Keith’s nerves.

“Lance, it’s one in the morning. If you don’t have a good reason to be calling, I’m going to hang up on you and call you back when I have the patience.”

Lance heard a male voice murmuring in the background and Keith’s muffled voice replying. He swallowed, toying with the frayed knees in his jeans as he tried to get the courage to speak.

“I’m sorry, Keith. I just-” He let out a soft sob, curling in on himself as he tried to remember how to breathe.

There was the sound of rustling on the other side, almost as if Keith was sitting up, and suddenly Keith’s voice was much more concerned. “Lance? Breathe. Please. What’s going on? Do you need me to come get you?”

“No. No,” he gasped, brushing his hair out of his face, dragging a pained breath into his lungs. “I just didn’t know who else to call about this. I need your help.”

“Okay. What do you need my help with? Name it.”

“That website you used before you met Shiro. What was it?”

He heard a sharp intake of breath and silence. After a few moments of silence, Lance was starting to get worried. “Keith?”

“What happened? Did you lose your job?”

“Yeah.”

“How long ago?”

“About a month.”

Another sharp breath.

“How much do you have in your savings?”

Lance laughed nervously. “That’s a bit of a personal question, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is. But what you’re asking requires me to ask this. How much?”

Lance fidgeted. “About twenty dollars,” he mumbled.

“No.”

“No?”

“I’m not giving you that website, Lance.”

Fury welled up in Lance, scaring him with how fast it cropped up. “What the fuck do you mean you’re not going to give me the website?”

“I mean that you’re too desperate, Lance.” Keith’s voice was calm, even, and it just made Lance angrier.

“Fuck you, Keith,” Lance snarled. “So were you. You told me yourself.”

“You’re right. I was. And I made stupid decisions, and I got hurt in ways that I don’t want you to get hurt. When you’re that desperate, you’re willing to do anything for money. Especially you. I know you Lance. You take too much on your shoulders.”

The anger dissipated into the wind like smoke, letting the anxiety seep in again. It felt like a physical weight settling onto his shoulder, pressing him harder on the Earth than gravity ever could.

“Keith. Please.”

“Just give me one moment.”

There was more murmuring that Lance couldn’t make out. It went on for what seemed like forever, before Keith’s voice finally came back on the line.

“Why did you call me?”

The question caught Lance off guard.

“I- Because you’re the only sugar baby I know.”

“Yeah, but you could have Googled all of this information. Do you trust me?”

Lance flushed. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Do you trust that even if I won’t give you that website information, I can still help you out if this is what you really want?”

Euphoria rang through Lance’s body, singing through every nerve. He covered his mouth, trying to contain his emotion.

“Lance?”

“Oh! Uh. Yeah. I trust you.”

“Okay. Good. You get some sleep and meet us tomorrow at noon for lunch. I’ll text you the address.”

“I can do that.”

“Good. Now I’m going back to sleep, and I suggest you do the same. Good night, Lance.”

“Good night, Keith. And Shiro.”

A soft chuckle from a voice he’d never heard before reached his ears. “Good night, Lance.”

There was a soft click and the call ended.

Lance slumped forward, softly sending up a prayer of thanks, before getting up and walking to the store to get that junk food he’d promised Hunk.

…

**From: Keithy-Boo**

**9:32am**

_ You still live at the same place, right? _

 

**To: Keithy-Boo**

**10:14am**

_ yeah y? _

 

**From: Keithy-Boo**

**10:23am**

_ Be ready outside your door at 11:45 please. I’ll have a car waiting for you. _

…

“Where’re you going, buddy?”

Lance stopped, mind racing as he tried to figure out what he was going to tell Hunk. “Uh, well. I’m going to go meet an old friend for lunch.”

Hunk’s smile was bright. “It’s nice to see you going out again. You haven’t left the house in so long.”

Lance’s heart hurt.

“Do I know them?”

Oh. He scratched the back of his neck, grinning sheepishly. “You remember Keith?”

Even with how nervous he was for what he was about to do, Lance really wished that he had a camera on him to capture Hunk’s facial expression when he said that.

“I thought you hated him though?”

A shrug. “I never  _ hated _ him. We just had that rivalry and it would bother me how he was always winning. You know how competitive I get.” He flashed a winning smile at Hunk.

“Hm. Yeah, alright. But how’d you even get in touch with him again?”

“Oh. Uh. Well…”  _ Think, Lance, think _ . “I ran into him one day at the store and we just… kinda got to talking. Then we decided we’d do lunch today.”

Hunk stared at him for a moment. Lance stared back, certain that his friend was going to see straight through him, all the way down to the deep, dark shame that he was carrying in his gut.

“Alright,” Hunk said brightly, turning to finish up the lunch he was making. “Well have fun, and call me if you need anything.”

Lance sighed, almost visibly deflating, and nodded. “Sure thing, buddy.”

Before Hunk could ask any more questions and send Lance’s blood pressure skyrocketing, Lance gave Hunk a quick finger gun and headed out of their apartment.

Lance had already Googled the address Keith had sent him, half out of curiosity and half because a part of him had always been convinced that Keith would probably murder him in some abandoned warehouse given half the chance. Instead of an abandoned warehouse in some seedy neighborhood, which had been very unlikely, or some fancy pants restaurant that Lance would have felt like he was soiling just by looking at, which was more likely, the address that Keith had sent him was to a quaint little cafe somewhere downtown. Lance had passed it multiple times on his way to work or the store or parties. It wasn’t anything spectacular, but it also wasn’t anything that was in Lance’s price range, even when he  _ did _ have extra money lying around.

He gulped, praying desperately that Keith and Shiro were going to be paying.

As he stood outside of the apartment building, he tapped his foot, chewing on his lip as he waited for the car to pull up on the street in front of his door. When the car finally did pull up, Lance practically drooled at the sleek, curvy body of the red Mustang purring at the curb. He cautiously approached the car, opening the back door and poking his head in, almost scared that he had the wrong car.

“This isn’t a fucking Uber, Lance,” Keith growled from the driver’s seat, twisted around to glare at him. “Come up to the passenger’s seat.”

Lance’s face flushed. “Oh. Sorry.” He closed the door gently, not wanting to be rude to  the beauty he was faced with. It was beyond stupid, but he’d kind of assumed that with how filthy rich Shiro was, that they were going to send a fucking chauffeur or something to pick him up.

Nope. He got Keith instead.

He put his seatbelt on silently, ashamed, and kind of curled in on himself in the passenger’s seat. Playing with his hands was something he’d always found comforting, so he did that now, assessing his fingernails, the pads of his fingers, his palms. He played with each finger rhythmically, losing himself in the anxious habit.

“Hey.” A pale hand covered his, and he stopped his twitching to stare up at Keith with wide eyes.

Keith stared back, concerned.

“If you’re seriously reconsidering this, you don’t have to go through with it. I can help you find other ways of making money.”

“Will they make me as much money as this will?”

Keith’s mouth twisted into a grimace.

Lance took a deep breath, grabbing Keith’s hand and holding onto it like a lifeline. “You did this. You did really good for yourself. I’m not going to get the fairy tale ending that you did, but I won’t be going hungry anymore, and that’ll really help me sleep at night.”

Keith’s eyes darted from their intertwined hands to Lance’s eyes. Lance could feel the heaviness in them, remembered the deep, dark bags that he saw underneath them when he looked in the mirror that morning. He knew what Keith was seeing: exhaustion.

“Alright. Then let’s get you to the meeting.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was going to wait a week, but I got impatient lol  
> Not to mention, I got an amazing comment from a certain someone whose birthday also ended up being today, so...  
> Happy birthday!! Hope this helps make a great day for you <3

Lance had imagined a million faces for the mysterious Shiro.

He hadn’t imagined the one that greeted him when Keith walked him into the little cafe.

It was those eyes, Lance concluded. Everything else, especially that winning smile, all gathered into his eyes, and Lance wanted nothing more than to melt into them. They looked kind, generous. In an instant, Lance knew that Shiro was assessing him, and that he was picking up on things that Lance himself probably hadn’t even thought of.

“So you’re the Lance that I’ve heard so much about,” Shiro teased, and Lance flushed. Then he realized what the implications of that sentence were and whirled around to look at Keith, who was just as red and also  _ very _ grumpy looking. Moreso that usual.

Interesting.

Lance chanced another look at Shiro, who was staring at him with a smile and an unreadable expression twinkling in his eyes. Something in Lance wanted to reach in, unravel Shiro, learn all about him. It had been mere minutes and already he was entranced.

Then Shiro pulled a chair out for both him and Keith to sit in and pushed them in, and Lance wanted to fucking  _ propose _ . He wondered if his starry-eyed wonder was written all over his face. Based on Keith’s disgruntled side-eye, it probably was.

Well, sorry Keith. It wasn’t Lance’s fault that he was currently sitting across from the hottest man in existence.

Lance was only human, after all.

Shiro seemed to pick up on everything (of course he did, because Shiro was perfect), and smiled, a pink tinge brushing his cheeks that made Lance want to melt into Shiro’s arms. He really really hoped that Shiro wanted a second sugar baby, because as apprehensive as he was about basically selling himself for food and shelter and tuition, he wouldn’t mind it so much if he was at Shiro’s mercy.

Biting the inside of his cheek, he let his eyes wander to Keith, who was still apparently upset. Lance didn’t blame him. He would be too, if someone was eyeing up his boyfriend the way Lance currently was. But damn, if Keith was also there by Shiro’s side, he would probably think that he’d died and gone to heaven. Terrible mullet or not, he’d always  _ really _ wanted Keith.

There may or may not have been some embarrassing spank bank fantasies that he relied on when girls just weren’t cutting it for him.

The point was…

Lance wasn’t sure what the point was anymore. He just really wanted to get this meeting over with so he could know where his money was going to be coming from and also furiously masturbate to the thought of Shiro fucking Keith senseless. And vice versa.

Taking a deep breath and rubbing his hands over his face to try and physically reorient himself, Lance let out a low huff. “Okay. I’m not going to lie. I don’t know anything about any of this, so I’m really trusting both of you right now.”

Shiro smiled comfortingly at him and reached over to put one of his large hands over Lance’s. Lance looked down, a part of him hysterically thinking that wow, these two really had a thing for hand holding, only to get distracted by another hand wrapping around his back and rubbing it soothingly.

Wow. Okay. Lance was officially going to die.

“Is this okay?” Shiro asked soothingly, probably reading Lance’s internal screaming.

Lance nodded vigorously, desperately trying to clutch at Shiro’s hand and also lean into Keith’s touch. “So okay,” he croaked.

Shiro chuckled, shaking his head, and looked at Keith. “Wow, you weren’t lying.”

Lance looked at Keith, who’d turned his head away and was mumbling something. Under his hair though, Lance could still see his neck, and it was a bright red.

“Lying about what?”

Fuck it, Lance was curious.

Shiro’s fond smile was worth it. “How much you love touch.”

Lance blinked. He was pretty sure that Lance.exe had stopped working and needed to be rebooted. When had Keith figured that out?  _ How _ had Keith figured that out? Okay, so maybe it wasn’t that difficult since Lance clung to anyone a few notches above acquaintance level, but  _ still _ .

Keith’s hand on his back clutched him a little bit tighter, and Lance couldn’t help but feel his heart warm up.

“Aww, Keithy-boo,” he cooed. “That’s so sweet of you to notice.”

Keith snatched his hand mostly away, only keeping his arm tightly pressed up against Lance’s. “Don’t call me that,” he mumbled.

“Sure thing, Keithy-boo.”

Shiro laughed, only pulling his hand away when the barista called out his name. He walked away and came back with three coffees, setting them all down in front of the proper person. Lance stared at his in confusion. He didn’t remember ever giving them an order.

“Keith remembered what you always used to get during your project days,” Shiro supplied, obviously noticing his confusion. “Although if it’s changed since then, I can gladly get you another one.”

For once, Lance didn’t have a snarky remark. He just looked at Keith, overwhelmed for a moment, before pulling him into a big hug.

“Thank you.” He said it with all the gratitude he could manage, and he didn’t just mean the coffee.

Keith stared at him when Lance pulled away, and gave him just the smallest smile. “You’re welcome.”

“We both know that your knowledge in this is limited,” Shiro started, and Lance’s attention pulled away from Keith to Shiro, all the playfulness from earlier gone, “if not nonexistent. We understand that and that’s why we’re honored that you came to us for this and didn’t try to find this all through the internet. We want you to be safe through this process, Lance.”

Lance nodded, playing lightly with his cup as he chewed on the inside of his cheek. He wanted to make sure that he heard and understood everything that Shiro had to say.

“Keith and I have discussed options that you can consider. I know some people, people who will treat you well and give you considerable compensation for your companionship. If you wish, I have their information collected and can go over it with you, so that you can go into this feeling that you have made the best decision. And if ever at any point, you feel uncomfortable or don’t wish to pursue the relationship, you can always contact Keith or I for help. You have Keith’s number, and I can give you mine as well.”

Lance nodded, mind already racing and trying to figure everything out.

“There is another option, though.”

For just a moment, all his thoughts came screeching to a halt, and Lance tilted his head, nodding at Shiro to continue.

Shiro cleared his throat, shifting in his seat and looking towards Keith. “Since the first business trip where I had to leave Keith alone, I’ve had to go on long and longer trips, or shorter trips more frequently. I still spend a good amount of time at home, but when I am gone, there’s no one to keep Keith company. I’ve been wanting to find someone to be there for him, but there hasn’t been anyone that he’s been comfortable enough with that I feel good leaving him alone with that person. But he’s comfortable with you. If you want, you could be that person, Lance.”

Lance looked at Keith, who was still pressed up against him, and considered for a moment. In the time since he’d worked with Keith on that project, he’d heard rumors about him. He had no family, nowhere to call home. He had a dark and mysterious past, tragic even, and that’s why he never opened up to anyone.

He didn’t know how much of that was true, if any, but he imagined Keith sitting all alone in a big house, wandering it as he waited for Shiro to come home, and his heart ached. Not to mention, a more selfish part of his brain whispered, he would be with people he knew. Then a thought occurred to him.

“When you say company…?” He trailed off, hoping Shiro was smart enough to fill in the rest.

Luckily, Shiro was. “I mean anything Keith wants. Whether that be board games or trips to stores or cuddling or even kissing or sex. If there is anything that is  _ truly _ off the board for you, you can talk to me and Keith, but these are all things that you would have been expected to do with any other job you’d have taken.”

Lance nodded, mulling his options over. He took a sip of his caramel macchiato, smiling when it hit his tongue. It tasted just the way he liked it.

And didn’t that just seal the deal? Keith, more than anyone else, had watched out for him. He’d taken care of him, had kept him from doing something desperate and getting hurt. He’d remembered things about Lance from months before and told Shiro about them to make this meeting as comfortable as possible.

Anyone else wouldn’t do that.

“Yeah,” Lance murmured, leaning into Keith’s side. “I can be Keithy-boo’s sugar baby.”

Shiro laughed softly. “Well, technically, I’ll be the one paying everything, but you’ll be giving Keith company. It’s not exactly the most conventional arrangement.”

“You’re damn right it isn’t,” Lance laughed, tucking his arm around Keith.

Keith returned the gesture. “You’ve never been one for conventions though, have you?”

“Nah. Fuck society.”

Shiro looked pleased when Lance looked over at him. “We’ll discuss payment on our way to lunch. Then we’ll go and get you some clothes.”

Lance looked down at himself. “But I’m already wearing some?”

Keith’s smile was predatory and he leaned down until his nose was practically bumping Lance’s. “I prefer clothes of a bit more… delicate variety.”

Lance gulped, trying to ignore the heat that bloomed in his body. “Oh.”

Lance imagined telling Hunk all about Keith putting him in dresses and lingerie and shit, before he stopped.

“Um…”

“Yes, Lance?”

Lance turned to Shiro. “How am I going to explain this to my roommate, Hunk? He’s definitely going to notice if I’m gone for long periods of time and come back looking all fucked out.”

“You can explain it however you like. If you want to tell him the truth, you can do that, but I can understand how that might not be what you want to do.”

Lance blew out a deep breath. “ _ Yeah _ .”

Shiro looked between Keith and Lance a few times, before tapping his finger against his bottom lip. “What if you told him that Keith is your boyfriend? You would still have to explain the polyamorous side of things, but it would be less complicated because you wouldn’t have to deal with explaining the money aspect.”

Lance nodded, running the thought over in his head a few times. “That could actually work.”

“Good. Now let’s go get some lunch.”

Lunch was actually really nice. It wasn’t anything like he was expecting, because even though it was more high end and screamed money, they were all escorted to a side room that was composed entirely of booths that could be curtained off. He was still vibrating with excitement from the figure that Shiro had rattled off to him as compensation for keeping Keith company. It would be more than enough to let him pay rent and buy food and pay tuition. And he would still have enough money at the end of the day to buy nice things and create a sizeable savings.

He wanted to cry.

He shook his head when Shiro asked if he had any food allergies or preferences, and let Keith basically pull him into his lap. The waitress serving them didn’t even blink, only taking their orders, of which Shiro ordered for Lance, and pulling their curtain shut at Shiro’s request before presumably walking away.

“Now that payment is all settled, I just need your bank information so that I can put an initial deposit in and you can be assured that we will keep up our end of the bargain,” Shiro said, pulling out his phone. “Do you have that information on you?”

“Um…” Lance pulled out his own phone, opening his banking app and pulling up the account number and routing number. He showed it to Shiro, who nodded and typed the numbers into his own phone. Seconds later, his phone pinged with an impending deposit, and he choked at the amount.

“ _ Shiro _ . Please. That’s too much for a simple lunch date and clothes shopping.”

Shiro cocked his head to the side, mouth curving into a smirk. “I think you’ve been missing how much Keith has been pawing at you since the cafe. You’re definitely not going home without some hickeys, at the very least.”

Lance looked down at Keith, whose eyes were dark, pupils blown wide. His head swiveled back to Shiro. No matter how much he wanted to kiss Keith right now, it didn’t feel right to kiss a man’s boyfriend without his permission.

“Go ahead.” Shiro’s voice was low, hungry, and his eyes were too. “Give me a show worth what I paid you.”

Keith surged up to kiss Lance, but Lance pressed his hand firmly into his chest, pressing him back into the padded booth. The look on Keith’s face was that of betrayal, and Lance leaned down, nosing up his cheek and clawing his fingers softly into Keith’s sternum.

“I don’t know about you, but I want to make sure that Shiro gets the best view possible, and that’s just not going to happen the way we’re sitting, papí.”

Lance felt Keith’s hands grab at his hips hard, and he hissed, biting his lip to hold back a moan.  _ Fuck _ , but he loved being manhandled.

He pulled out of Keith’s grip reluctantly and moved Keith so that his back was in the corner, legs stretched out on the seat in front of him. Straddling Keith’s lap slowly and rocking his hips a few time to tease him, he reached down to place Keith’s hands back on his hips.

Lance leaned down, licking his lips and letting them settle into a teasing smile. “So, papí, I’m all yours for the taking now. You gonna ravish me or not?”

Keith kissed him like he was dying, and Lance honestly didn’t think he would ever get enough of it. He hadn’t realized how much he missed the feeling of lips against his, of a tongue teasing him, of hands roaming up his shirt and down the waistband of his pants.

He whimpered into Keith’s mouth, melting into his touch, his mouth. He wanted to be devoured by Keith. Every bit of self consciousness that had been there when he’d first considered the fact that he was making out with Keith in front of Shiro was gone now, and all he could focus on now was Keith.

Keith’s mouth made its way to his neck and Lance shivered, clawing down Keith’s sides where his hands had made their way up his shirt. Lance vaguely heard Keith mumble something into his neck, but his brain was currently being shorted out through the mouth on his jugular, so it took him a moment to respond.

“What?” he gasped.

“Say it again,” Keith growled.

“Say what again?”

“What you called me. I’ll butcher it if I say it. Just  _ say it again _ .”

Oh.  _ Oh _ . It clicked in Lance’s head and fire erupted over every nerve in his body. He rolled his hips on Keith’s thighs, whimpering softly.

“ _ Papí _ ,” he moaned. “Feels so good, papí. You know just how to make me melt.”

He felt Keith’s teeth sink into his neck and slapped a hand over his mouth to keep from yelping loudly, letting his other hand trail through Keith’s hair and fist hard in it.

“Got such a filthy mouth on you, papí,” he babbled. “Gonna mark me up, papí? Show the world who I belong to? Whose lap I belong in? Gonna make it so that everyone knows I’ll only get on my knees for you?”

Keith growled into his skin, both hands reaching down his pants to grab at his ass. “Damn right I will,” he snarled. “You’re  _ mine _ .”

“Yours, papí,” Lance moaned, grabbing Keith’s hair with both hands and pressing both of his hands into his skull. “Yours to do anything with.”

He leaned down to kiss Keith again, peppering his cheeks and jaw with kisses, then down to his neck to suck soft hickeys into the skin. Each kiss was softer, less intense. He loved the fire Keith had, wanted to experience being consumed by it, but he didn’t think the restaurant would enjoy it if they fucked each other in that booth.

Keith calmed easily, letting Lance mark him in turn, and by the time the food came, they were lazily trading kisses and hickeys, curled up around each other in the corner of the booth.

Shiro was, when they looked over at him, very affected. With their food and drinks set in front of them, and the waitress gone again, Shiro moved in the booth enough to pull Keith into a hungry, possessive kiss.

Suddenly, Lance knew just how he must have looked to Shiro, because that’s how Keith looked in that moment. Lance was willing to bow to Keith, and Keith was willing to bow to Shiro. Shiro took that oh so willingly, and Lance couldn’t deny that he was a little jealous of Keith in that moment.

Still, as Keith settled back into him, giving him another kiss before they all settled back and dug into their respective meals, Lance couldn’t help but be soothed by the fact that he was pretty lucky in that moment.

As they ate, Lance let himself be cuddled by Keith, who was surprisingly more tactile than he’d given the impression before. It was actually kind of cute. Between some bites, Lance would actually take a moment to press a light kiss to Keith’s cheek, grinning at the soft blush that would grace his cheeks whenever he would do that.

“So you’re fine shoving your hands down my pants and grabbing my ass while I call you papí in a semi-public place, but a kiss on the cheek makes you blush?” he teased.

“Shut up,” Keith hissed, turning a brighter red.

Lance and Shiro just laughed.

As they walked out of the restaurant back to the car, Lance and Keith holding hands, Shiro threw an arm around Lance’s shoulders, smiling contentedly. “You make Keith happy. You both also look very beautiful together. One of these days, I might pay you a little extra for a show, if you’re willing.”

Lance’s mouth went dry. “Oh. Uh. Yeah. That-” He cleared his throat. “I could do that.”

“Good.”

The drive to the clothing boutique went quickly, with the three of them talking. The conversation mostly revolved around Lance, with Shiro and Keith both wanting to know more about him, and Lance perfectly willing to share and dramatically tell stories from his childhood. He loved the way they all laughed together and enjoyed in each other’s company, and it was almost a shame when they finally pulled in front of the building with the fancy writing that declared to the world that this place sold clothing.

Lance felt almost like he was dirtying the place just by stepping into it, but if the store clerks thought the same, they certainly didn’t show it. If anything, they seemed to recognize Shiro, and remember that he had lots of money, because they were all given the best of treatment while Keith and Shiro browsed around for clothes.

This was going to take a while. He could already tell. Sitting on a little padded stool, he crossed his ankles and answered Shiro and Keith dutifully when they asked him about sizes in different pieces of clothing. He wouldn’t be doing anything until it was time to try on clothes, it seemed.

When Shiro and Keith finally appeared from their excursion into the daunting amount of racks of clothing, each of them laden with armfuls of cloth, Lance’s eyes almost bugged out of his head. Maybe this wasn’t going to be the small little outing he’d been expecting. Then Keith leveled him with an appraising look, before whispering something to one of the sales associates and scurried off with her.

Lance wasn’t sure he wanted to know what Keith said.

Shiro smiled calmly at the overwhelmed look Lance shot him, and yeah, he thought, he really wanted to be under Shiro. He gulped at the thought.

“Keith said that you really like face masks and skin care products?”

Lance brightened up, nodding vigorously. “Yeah, I’m a total diva about my appearance. I have this whole routine that I’ve established, based on research into the best products and then fitting them into my budget.” He touched his face. “I’ve been kind of slacking lately because I wasn’t able to afford it anymore, but-”

He cut off, narrowing his eyes up at Shiro. “What a moment. Are you planning something?”

Shiro’s grin was an answer in and of itself.

“Oh my god. I’m going to be so spoiled,” Lance whispered. “You’re one of those drop money like crazy guys, aren’t you?”

Shiro’s grin turned sheepish. “When it comes to keep Keith happy, yeah, I am. So I want to make sure that you don’t have to worry about anything, because then you’ll be able to be more focused on Keith.”

Heat flared through Lance. God, but Shiro’s instinct to care for Keith was fucking hot.

As if he’d been summoned, Keith arrived back to the seating area, sans sale lady.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” Shiro asked, amused.

Keith didn’t respond, instead lifting a lacy red lingerie ensemble that had Lance squeaking and turning a bright red.

Shiro laughed at his reaction, the asshole. Keith just gave him a hungry look.

“Will you try this on last?”

Lance nodded dumbly, takin it from Keith and silently marveling at the softness of the fabric before standing up.

“Uh, do I just go into any one of these?”

Shiro immediately called over a sales associate, who cheerily lead Lance to his own changing booth, complete with his name in a cutesy handwriting gracing the whiteboard on the door. She helped him sort the clothes at his request, and left him with a cheerful reminder to call for her if he needed anything.

Lance took a deep breath as he stared at the mountains of clothes hanging around him. This was all so new to him, and it was almost too good to be true. Then again, he thought, if his tia knew what he was doing, she’d probably say he was a glorified prostitute, so… Maybe it was just him that thought this was too good.

Still, if it gave him a full belly and a chance for pampering, maybe it didn’t really matter. He comforted himself with that thought as he picked up the first outfit.

He let himself fall into the comfortable rhythm of pulling new clothes one, before staring at himself in the mirror with an arched eyebrow. Keith must have seen him in his more feminine days, he thought, to be able to pinpoint his aesthetic so well. He admired the blue cotton crop top and the flowy black skirt he’d paired it with. Turning from side to side, he imagined what makeup he’d put on with this outfit, and what types of shoes it’d look best with.

A giddy smile stretched across his face, and he stepped out of the dressing room confidently, giving a little spin to make the skirt twirl. Keith’s face was priceless. His eyes blew so wide Lance almost thought they’d bug out and his lips parted as he flushed softly.

Shiro was giving him an approving once over, and the giddiness in Lance’s chest bubbled up into a small laugh.

“What do you guys think?”

Keith cleared his throat. “It’s unfair how good that looks on you.”

Shiro chuckled. “It suits you beautifully.”

Lance’s smile widened, and he gave another spin before making his way into the dressing room again. He sifted through crop tops, tank tops, blouses, button downs, skirts, high waisted skinny jeans, low rise shorts… You name it, Shiro and Keith had picked it out for him.

His feet were aching by the time he’d gone through all of the clothes. Still, it was worth it to be fawned over in a way he’d only ever dreamed of before. Shiro and Keith were both extremely honest with him, appreciating the cuter outfits and giving Lance other options when something didn’t fit any of their tastes. He loved every second of it.

Finally, the only thing left was the little red lingerie outfit. Lance shivered in anticipation, licking his lips as he stripped his current clothes and slipped the lace over his body. He marveled at how soft it was and stared at himself in the mirror when it was finally on. The lace hugged all of his curves and made the illusion of more that he didn’t have. He stared at the way it made a V over his hips, trailing his fingers over the line of hair that tracked from his belly button to disappear under the fabric.

Even though he’d gone out to show off to Shiro and Keith in lingerie before, something about this particular set, and Keith’s excitement surrounding it, made him want their reactions to be private. Looking around quickly, he grabbed the black silk robe that belonged to another set and wrapped it around himself.

Poking his head out of the door, he caught both Shiro and Keith’s eyes, before beckoning them into his booth. They did so without question and Lance gestured for them to sit on the bench in the room.

Keith’s eyes were burning into the robe as if he was trying to see through the fabric. Lance paid him no mind and instead turned to Shiro.

“I’m technically on the job right now, yeah?”

Shiro’s eyes lit up with understanding and he nodded, leaning back and making himself comfortable.

“Huh?” was Keith’s eloquent reply.

Lance chuckled, sashaying towards him.

“Look into my eyes, papí,” Lance whispered, tilting Keith’s chin up.

Keith obliged, and Lance felt heat bloom through his body as he moved to kneel, his legs on either side of Keith’s lap as he straddled  him. He saw Keith’s eyes flick down to where the robe slid up, exposing the smooth brown expanse of his thighs. Tutting in disapproval, Lance shifted Keith’s attention back to his face.

“You’ve gotta be patient, papí.”

The flush and hungry look in Keith’s eyes got brighter.

“Fuck patience,” he growled.

Lance grinned, only shrugging the robe off of his shoulder. He watched Keith’s lips part as brown skin cut across with red lace was slowly revealed. The robe came off slowly, inch by impatient inch, until it finally fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.

“Shit,” he heard Shiro curse.

He only had a moment to savor the gravel of Shiro’s growl before a hand grabbed his hip tight enough that it could bruise, and another hand fisted in his hair to pull Lance into a searing kiss. Lance melted into Keith’s mouth, whimpering softly. His cock throbbed, the half-hard erection he’d been sporting quickly filling out.

“Papí,” he moaned, grabbing onto Keith’s arms and pulling away with difficulty. “We can’t make a mess in this outfit until you own it.”

Keith snarled. “Stop making sense, dammit.”

Lance laughed breathlessly, extracting himself from Keith’s tight grip. “I said we couldn’t make a mess in this outfit. But you own the clothes you’re wearing, don’t you?” He grinned up at Keith from where he was sliding between his knees.

“ _ Fuck _ ,” Keith gasped, head falling back to thump against the wall.

“Later, papí.”

Lance enjoyed the firm muscles that twitched under his touch as he trailed his hands up Keith’s thighs, making eye contact with him the whole time. He savored the hitch in Keith’s breath when he popped the button open and pulled down the zipper. Shiro’s hum of approval spurred him on to reach into Keith’s boxers and pull out his cock, already flaming red and leaking at the tip.

“Look at how gorgeous your fucking cock is,” Lance breathed. “I can’t wait until we have time to let you  _ ruin me _ with it.”

“Enough talking, goddammit. Put that filthy fucking mouth to use already.”

Lance smirked up at Keith, before pressing soft open-mouthed kisses to the head. He smeared the precome around with his lips before finally darting his tongue out to taste it. Meanwhile, his hand was lazily pumping the shaft, pulling Keith to full hardness and making him groan softly.

He didn’t waste any time, suckling on the head and swiping his tongue over the ridge and the slit, humming oh so softly. The hand that was on Keith’s thigh felt the tensing of his muscles, and he jacked him off faster, putting every trick he knew into it. The entire time, he thought of how close the sales people were, how anyone could open the door and find Lance on his knees like a proper slut, absolutely loving sucking on Keith’s dick.

Keith must have been thinking it too, because one hand fisted hard enough to sting in Lance’s hair and the other came up so that he could bite on his fist. Lance kept at it, pushing him until he was sure that someone was probably going to catch them. Just as he began thinking that, though, Keith’s entire body tensed, back arching from the wall as he muffled a cry into his fist and came.

Lance licked it all up dutifully, swiping away the small amounts that had hit his cheek or dribbled out of his mouth and sucked the come off of his fingers, all while making sure that Keith saw him.

He stayed on his knees, catching his breath and watching with wonder as Shiro pulled Keith into a kiss of his own, murmuring to him how hot it had been. Judging by the bulge in Shiro’s pants, he definitely wasn’t lying. Lance couldn’t deny the sense of pride that gave him.

He let Keith and Shiro stay as he stripped out of the lingerie and put on the clothes he’d come into the store with, smiling internally at the way they both leaned into each other as they stared openly at him. Wiggling his hips once, he finished pulling his pants over his ass and buttoned them, taking care not to catch his hard on in the zipper.

Before they left, he looked into the mirror, observing his face and fixing his hair to look less like he’d just finished blowing someone. He caught Keith’s eyes in the mirror, smiling brightly at him through the glass and blowing him a kiss. Keith flushed, and his smile only widened. God, Keith was fucking cute.

The cashier who rang them up gave them an interested look, but said nothing. Before he could tell them the price, Shiro shook his head and pulled out his card, nodding towards the card machine. Seemingly unfazed by this, the cashier only pressed the appropriate buttons to start the transaction. Lance tried to peer over Shiro’s shoulder to catch the price, which he couldn’t even begin to calculate since the clothes didn’t have price tags, but Keith wrapped his arms around Lance’s waist, pressing his crotch against Lance’s ass, effectively distracting him.

Knowing the total would probably really only keep him from falling asleep tonight though, so he didn’t fight it.

After clothes shopping, Shiro and Keith took him shopping for shoes and accessories, then for makeup and facial products. Lance was becoming increasingly concerned with the amount of bags that were piling up, but he pushed it out of his mind in favor of bantering and flirting with Keith. Now that he’d had his dick in his mouth, it seemed that that stick up his ass had come out too. Whatever it was, it was nice.

By the time they pulled up in front of Lance’s little apartment, Lance was worn out from all the adventures they’d had that day.

“Thank you both so much,” he breathed, leaning back into his seat and staring at his front door with significantly much more hope than he’d had when he walked out of it hours earlier.

A big warm hand covered his, and he looked up into Shiro’s smiling eyes.

“It’s really no problem, Lance. I have the money, and you can give us both something we desperately need. We should be thanking you here.”

Keith put his hand on top of Shiro’s and gave Lance a meaningful look.

“Do you need help carrying your stuff in?”

Lance snorted, amused by Keith’s inability to subtly change the subject, and nodded. “Yes please.”

“Okay, me and Keith can bring down everything for you. Unless your roommate will be uncomfortable with us bringing your skirts and the like in.”

“Who, Hunk?” Lance laughed. “Nah, he won’t mind. Hell, he helped me get my first pair of high heels.”

Shiro’s smile was warm. “Alright then. We can all go carry the bags up.”

“Uhh, that might actually not be the best idea. Usually we don’t have a lot of crime here, but a car this nice is definitely going to get stolen if you leave it outside.”

“That’s fair.” Shiro reached to the backseat, where Keith was sitting in the middle and leaning in to better hear their conversation, and slapped Keith on the shoulder lightly. “Looks like you should probably go up with Lance then.”

“Yeah, alright.”

The both of them climbed out of the car and grabbed their armfuls of bags, then marched up to the front door. Lance pushed his key into the lock and unlocked the door, before stepping in and gesturing around.

“It hasn’t changed a lot since you were here last, but this is my place.”

Keith nodded. “It’s cozy.”

Lance laughed. “Depending on how Hunk’s search for a second roommate is going, it’s about to get cozier.” He headed towards the bedroom, passing the doorway to the living room on the way.

He saw Hunk sitting on the couch talking to some small person he couldn’t really make out, and yelled out a quick greeting. Hearing the responding one, he kept walking to his room and gestured towards his dresser.

“You can just put the bags here. I’ll go through them later.”

Keith obliged, looking around as he did.

“I never got to see your room before.”

His voice was wondering, and Lance shrugged, scratching the back of his neck.

“Yeah. I don’t really let most people in here. It’s my little space, and I like that it’s this secret place that’s only mine.”

Keith’s smile was fond, and he walked forward to cup Lance’s face and give him a soft kiss. “Thank you for showing it to me, then.”

Lance could feel his face burning, and his answering smile was all sorts of smitten.

“Hey, Lance, buddy! Come over here, will ya?”

The moment broken, Lance sighed and led Keith to the living room, walking over to Hunk to give him a hello hug. “Hey big guy. How’s it going?”

Hunk grinned and pressed a friendly kiss to his cheek. “Pretty good.”

His eyes landed on Keith as Lance stood up, who had been watching the scene with interest. “Keith, isn’t it?”

Keith nodded, crossing his arms. “Yeah. You’re Hunk? I’m pretty sure I remember you hanging out with Lance around campus and bringing him food while we were working on our project.”

Hunk nodded, giving Keith an approving look before turning back to Lance.

“This is Pidge,” he introduced, motioning to the person sitting on the couch next to him.

“Yo,” Pidge greeted, nodding their head at Lance.

Lance stuck out his hand, shaking their hand and introducing himself and Keith in turn.

“Nice to meet you guys.”

Hunk watched the exchange happily. “Pidge has been looking for a new place to stay, and we’ve been talking about her moving in with us and being our second roommate.”

“Cool. Lemme just walk Keith out and then we can all talk.”

He walked Keith back to the car with an arm around his waist, watching as he got into the passenger’s seat that Lance himself had just been sitting in not too long before. Keith closed the door and rolled down the window, allowing Lance to prop his crossed arms on it.

“Thank you both again for today. Really.”

Shiro chuckled. “It’s really no problem, like I said.”

Lance smiled. “Yeah, well. It still helped a lot.” Shifting his weight from one foot to the other, he licked his lips. “Is there any time in particular that you’ll be needing me, or is Keith just gonna have me on call whenever?”

“I’m going to be stuck in meetings all day the day after tomorrow, and I probably won’t be home until very late, so if you could spend the day and night with Keith, that’d be a good start. Keith can drive you both back in his own car. I’ll spend tomorrow going through my schedule and setting up the days we need you, and you can go over them with Keith when you visit him.”

“Sounds good.” Lance gave Shiro a bright smile before turning his attention to Keith. “Can I kiss you goodbye?”

He giggled into Keith’s mouth, letting his hand rest on the back of his neck, buried in that truly tragic mullet. When they pulled away from each other, he gave Keith and Shiro a parting wave and watched as they started down the street before heading back in to talk to Pidge and Hunk.


	3. Chapter 3

Lance plopped down onto the couch perpendicular to Hunk and Pidge, curling his legs up and getting comfy before looking at them.

“So,” he started, eyeing Pidge with fake suspicion. “You’re the person who wants to become the third Musketeer.”

Pidge shrugged. “What can ya do? You both looked like you were struggling with the whole  _ Dynamic Duo _ thing, so I figured I’d step in and see what I could do.” They grinned at Lance, more of a playful baring of teeth than an actual smile.

Lance threw his head back, clapping his thigh as he started laughing. “I like you.”

“Wow. I’ve completed my life’s ultimate quest.”

Pidge’s deadpan delivery had Lance grinning even more widely, and he tucked his arms behind his head as he twisted to look at Hunk. “I approve.”

Hunk tilted his head at Lance, obviously picking up on his giddy attitude that was spilling everywhere. He knew that he was being too obvious, but he had a good enough excuse, he figured. Lance could feel his eyes go out of focus as he imagined just what would be waiting for him when he visited Keith. He mentally ran through the outfits he’d been bought, trying to decide which lingerie set he could wear under his clothes.

“...questions.”

Oh yeah, he wasn’t in his own room yet. He had to pay attention. Turning his gaze away from the ceiling and back towards Hunk, he made a questioning noise.

“Sorry. I missed that.”

Hunk gave him an interested look, but seemed to decide against saying something. “I was asking if you had any questions for Pidge. Like, maybe the contributions they can afford to make, how steady their job is… Something like that.”

Lance shrugged. “You’re not gonna rob us blind in the middle of the night, are you?”

Pidge rolled their eyes. “Yeah, because you’re both a pair of rich elites just  _ bathing _ in jewels.”

“Hey, don’t judge a book by its cover.”

“That’s literally what the cover is for.”

Lance paused, then shrugged again. “That’s fair, I guess. Anyways, as long as you understand that you can’t go snooping around private areas, you’re fine.”

A text ping rang through the air suddenly, and Lance brightened up, fishing out his phone to see who’d texted him.

 

**From: Keithy-Boo**

**7:48pm**

_ I miss how good you feel straddling my lap, all flushed and begging for it _

 

_ Fuck _ . Lance shifted a few inches to one side, eyes flicking quickly to see if Hunk had noticed his reaction. To his relief, his roommate was starting up some techie conversation that he didn’t particularly care about in relation to what looked like the beginning of a beautiful round of sexting.

That didn’t mean he couldn’t have fun with Keith.

 

**To: Keithy-Boo**

**7:49pm**

_ papíííííí i’m in the living room with pidge and hunk _

 

**From: Papí**

**7:49pm**

_ Well then be a good boy and don’t let them know what you’re up to _

 

**To: Papí**

**7:50pm**

_ what if i did?  _

_ told them about how i blew you in a dressing room _

_ how good you felt in my mouth _

_ how badly i wanted for you to fuck me up against that mirror _

 

**Incoming Call: Papí**

 

Lance grinned at his phone as the expected call came. With only a cursory glance towards Pidge and Hunk, he swiped to answer it, nonchalantly lifting the phone to his ear.

“Yes?”

_ “You’re going to be a real brat, aren’t you?” _

The grin he gave the phone was pure faked innocence, even if he knew that Keith wouldn’t be able to see him.

“It’s like you’ve never even met me before.”

_ “Oh, I’ve met you before.” _ Keith’s voice was low, dangerous, and it shot thrills down Lance’s spine. Standing, he motioned to the phone as a reason to leave the room, waving goodbye to Pidge as he headed towards his room.

On the phone, Keith continued.

_ “I’ve had you dressed up all pretty and sucking me off, seen you so impatient you can’t even wait until we’re somewhere private to get a cock down your throat.” _

Lance slammed his door shut unintentionally, tucking the phone into the crook of his neck and ear so he could have both hands free. One arm lifted to support him as he leaned against the wall, forehead pressed against his forearm. Meanwhile, the other hand was fumbling with his belt and pant button, trying to get some relief on his rapidly hardening cock.

“Papí,” he whispered, breathing hard into the speaker.

_ “Now would you listen to that,” _ Keith purred, voice smug.  _ “A few choice words and he’s already speechless. Keep that pretty voice low, baby. You don’t want the others to hear what a filthy boy you are for me, do you?” _

Lance shook his head, breath hitching.

_ “Words, Lance.” _

“No, papí,” he gasped. “I’ll be good.”

_ “Yes, you will, won’t you?”  _ There was a soft moan from Keith, followed by a shushing noise from someone that Lance was almost completely certain was Shiro.

“Fuck,” he whispered. “Is Shiro there with you, papí?”

_ “I’m not Shiro in these situations.” _

Lance almost cried when he heard Shiro’s voice, finally wrapping his hand around his neglected cock. He was still amped up from the blowjob in the dressing room, nerves singing with pleasure as he touched himself. He swallowed hard, breathing shakily into the phone microphone.

“Are you going to be my daddy then?”

“ _ Oh, you're so good, picking up on that so quickly. I'll have to have Keith reward you when you see him next _ .”

Lance whimpered into the phone, hips bucking into his hand.

A soft chuckle passed across the line, lighting Lance’s nerves with raw energy. “ _ You’re so eager to be my good boy, aren’t you _ ?” Keith purred. “ _ Will you even be able to wait until I can finally get my hands on you, press you into my bed, and devour you whole _ ?”

Lance cursed emphatically, thumb swiping against the head of his cock as he gasped into the phone.

“ _ Aren’t you going to answer him, cari _ _ ño _ ?”

A strangled whine. “Yes, Daddy.”

“ _ Go on then. Tell your pap _ _ í that you want to be his good boy _ .”

“Papí,” Lance whispered.

“ _ Yes, baby _ ?”

“I wanna be your good boy so badly. I wanna feel how good your cock is filling me up, owning me completely.” His strokes on his cock quickened, breath hitching as he got closer to coming.

“ _ You really want to be my good boy _ ?”

“More than anything, papí.”

“ _ Then don’t come _ .”

His hand stopped immediately, though he whined into the phone as he tried desperately not to keep fucking his own hand. He slowly started to come down from the edge, thighs trembling from the exertion. “Papí please,” he moaned. “I wanna come.”

“ _You’ll come eventually, baby. But you’re going to come by my hand. I want to watch your beautiful face, see how it unravels._ _I want you to know who’s the one giving you your pleasure_. _Do you understand_?”

Lance whined, but nodded, digging his fingertips into his own thigh so he wouldn’t keep touching himself. “Yes, papí. I understand.”

“ _ Fuck, baby, you’re such a good boy. _ ”

Keith’s sounded broken, voice and breath hitching over the phone line as he got closer to coming.

“Are you gonna come for me, papí?” Lance gasped, digging his fingernails deeper into his thighs as he listened to Keith moan over the phone.

“ _ Yeah, baby. _ ”

Lance bit his lip, wanting desperately to get himself off to the sounds of Keith coming. “I want you to come all over me when we see each other next, papí. I want you to make me absolutely  _ filthy _ .

There was a groan too low to be Keith’s, and electricity shot down Lance’s spine. “ _ You’re going to have to send me a picture of that. Would you like that, corazón? To pose for a picture all covered in Keith’s come like the beautiful little slut you are _ ?”

“Fuck yes, daddy,” Lance moaned. “Wanna show you how good I can be while you’re gone.”

A wavering whine passed through the phone, a strangled curse following.

“ _ Oh corazón, you should see Keith right now. He came just by thinking how pretty you’d look covered in his come _ .” His voice was gravely, and the sound was so beautiful that Lance wanted to cry.

Or maybe he just wanted to come that badly.

“Daddy. Papí. I want to come.  _ Please _ .”

“ _ Aw baby _ .” Keith sounded breathy, satisfied, and Lance’s toes curled in his shoes. “ _ Go to your bags _ .”

Lance complied, following Keith’s lazy instructions to find a bag that he didn’t remember from their shopping rip. He described it to Keith, who affirmed that it was the correct bag. Opening it up, he groaned into the phone’s microphone as he saw the various toys and lubes that he  _ definitely _ didn’t remember buying.

“Oh my god, papí, when did you get these?”

“ _ I have my ways _ ,” Keith hedged, and Lance bit his lip at the ‘ _ cat that got the cream _ ’ tone. “ _ Now, I need you to pull something out for me _ .”

“Okay.” Stumbling towards the bed awkwardly, he dumped the contents of the bag onto his bed. His mouth watered as he thought about Keith using the various items on him.

“ _ You’re going to see two cock rings, one that has a lock and one that doesn’t. Grab the one with the lock _ .”

“Oh fuck,” Lance whimpered.

“ _ Language, baby. Or I’ll have to keep that filthy mouth gagged. _ ”

“Sorry papí.” He picked up the cage that Keith had indicated, eyes wide at the contraption in his hand. “Where’s the key, papí?”

Keith chuckled. “ _ I’ve got it with me, baby. Once you put that on, it’s not coming off until  _ I _ take it off. _ ”

Lance gulped audibly.

“ _ Now, are you going to be a good boy and put it on, or am I going to have to punish you when I see you next _ ?”

“I’m guessing this wouldn’t be a good punishment, would it?”

“ _ You know it wouldn’t _ .”

The promise in Keith’s voice was solid, so Lance took a deep and shaky breath before putting the cage on and snapping it shut. He whined wordlessly into the phone, the sensation of his cock being trapped by cool metal rushing through his nerves.

“ _ Good boy _ ,” Keith purred. “ _ I can’t wait to see how beautiful your cock looks _ .”

Lance couldn’t help the soft moan that escaped his lips.

“Are you going to play with it, papí? Suck me through the cage and make beg for release?”

Keith hummed. “ _ If you ask that prettily, yes _ . _ That’s not all I’ve got planned for you, though _ .”

“Are you going to tell me what those plans are, or are you going to keep teasing me and hold it back?”

Keith’s laugh was dark. “ _ I think we both know the answer to that _ .”

Lance let out a small whine, deflating. “Fiiine.”

“ _ Good boy, _ ” Shiro murmured. “ _ Now, you should probably go back to your friends. I’m sure that they’ve been wondering where you’ve been _ .”

“Okay,” he sighed. “Will I get to talk to you tomorrow?”

Shiro made an apologetic noise. “ _ I’m sorry, but we have errands that need to be run tomorrow and we probably won’t have too much time to talk. _ ”

“That’s alright. It’ll give me some time to get everything all set straight with Hunk so he doesn’t think I’ve been kidnapped.”

There was a soft laugh. “ _ That makes sense. I’ll see you soon, okay _ ?”

“Okay.”

They all said their goodbyes and hung up. As soon as the call was ended, Lance let his head drop against  the wall with a soft ‘thunk’. He took a deep breath, trying to push down the arousal bubbling under his skin. Fuck, but Keith had completely surprised him, pulling that off so smoothly. It made Lance want to cry, it was so good.

Taking a final deep breath, he tucked himself back into his underwear and shimmied his pants up his hips. Once he’d made sure that it wasn’t too obvious what he’d just been doing, he opened the door to his bedroom and headed back to the living room nonchalantly.

As soon as he stepped into the room, though, his stomach dropped. Pidge and Hunk, who’d still been having their own little conversation, immediately quieted down when they saw him. Pidge gave him the largest shit eating grin he’d ever seen, a truly evil look in their eye, and Hunk gave him the ever familiar ‘ _ Really? _ ’ look that was specially reserved for Lance doing something particularly dumb.

“So,” Pidge started. “It’s kinda good to know that these walls are all paper thin, isn’t it?”

His suspicions confirmed, Lance turned a deep red, covering his face with his hands. “Oh my god, you guys heard that, didn’t you?”

“Every word,” Pidge said, their grin getting even wider.

“Yeah, uh, Pidge really got to know you today.”

Lance stumbled back towards the wall, turning to face it and hiding his face by attempting to become one with the drywall.

“I’ve gotta say, I’m pretty impressed. Considering you were saying two different names, I’m going to assume you were on the phone with at least two people. I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“You barely know me,” Lance mumbled into the wall, trying to stop blushing so much.

“Yeah, but you struck me as a pretty big dork.”

“Excuse you, dorks can get laid too.  _ Especially _ when they’re as irresistible as I am.” Lance whirled around, pointing his finger at them.

Pidge just snorted.

Hunk fidgeted in his own seat. “I’m happy for you, buddy. I’m just confused because I didn’t know that you were seeing anybody, much less  _ two _ somebodies.”

“Uh. Yeah. That.” Lance grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “We really only got together today, so…”

“But I thought you were out with Keith all day-  _ Ohhh _ .”

“Yeah,” Lance sighed dreamily, thinking back to that restaurant and the delicious slide of Keith’s mouth against his own.

“Doesn’t he have a boyfriend, tho-  _ Lance _ , how the  _ hell _ ?”

Lance snickered, the little seconds it took for Hunk to understand what was going on amusing him beyond belief. “What can I say? I’m just that good.”

“So you’re seeing the both of them?”

Figuring that the cat was out of the bag, Lance just plopped himself back on the couch he’d vacated, pulling out his phone and opening his text thread with Keith.

 

**To: Papí**

**8:32pm**

_ nice going now my roommates know we’re banging orz _

 

“Not exactly. I’m mostly just seeing Keith, and Shiro just joins or watches whenever he wants.”

 

**From: Papí**

**8:32pm**

_ We’re not banging yet _

__ _ And what do you mean, roommates? I thought you only lived with Hunk _

 

**To: Papí**

**8:33pm**

_ omg that’s so n o t the point _

__ _ but if you’re really curious _

__ _ looks like Hunk was able to pluck a third roommate out of thin air _

_ and it’s not like i can just be like ‘yo, it’s cool i’m getting paid money to suck keith off in public changing rooms’ _

_ they seem cool tho so it’s fine _

 

“That’s uh… Something, I guess. How did it even happen?”

 

**From: Papí**

**8:34pm**

_ ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ _

 

**To: Papí**

**8:34pm**

_ oh my g o d _

 

Lance tossed his phone down and turned his full attention on Hunk, who was watching him with an amused expression, and Pidge, who was just flat out smirking at him.

“Sorry, what was that?”

Pidge snickered. Hunk elbowed them, but it only served to make them laugh even harder.

“I was asking how you guys got together,” Hunk sighed, seemingly giving up on getting Pidge to calm down.

“Oh. Yeah. Uh, when I went to go get lunch with Keith and Shiro, Keith told me that he wanted to go out with me.”

Hunk’s eyebrows raised. “You went to lunch with both of them?”

“Yeah.”

“And Keith just asked you out in front of his boyfriend?”

“Yeah.”

“And he wasn’t jealous?”

Lance shrugged. “Nah. Shiro’s a busy guy, so he’s happy that Keith will have someone when he can’t be there.”

Hunk leaned back into the couch. “Huh. Well alright then.”

Lance grinned. “Anyways, I’m gonna be spending a few days with Keith starting day after tomorrow. So I won’t be around. And I know that it’s the end of the month, so I’ll get you my half of the rent.”

Hunk looked confused. “Half? I figured we’d all do a third since Pidge decided that they want to move in.”

Lance waved him off. “Nah. I figure we can let Pidgeon here get a month to figure out if they wanna stay. It’s no problem.”

Hunk gave him a searching look, then seemed to give up on the matter. He’d probably realized that Lance was being evasive for a reason and had decided that either it wasn’t a matter worth pursuing, or, more likely, he’d realized it and was planning on talking to him about it later when Pidge wasn’t around.

“Got any plans for tomorrow then?”

He shrugged. “Not really.”

…

Pidge left a while later after they’d all worked out when they would move in. Lance picked his phone back up, wanting to check on his texts. He figured that Keith would have texted him back, and he wanted to get back to him if it was something important.

 

**From: Papí**

**8:36pm**

_ We did agree that you could tell them that you were dating me, so it’s not a huge problem that they know _

**8:37pm**

_ Unless it bothers you, in which case we can talk about it and figure something out _

**8:41pm**

_ Lance? _

**8:43pm**

_ I figure you’re talking to them, so I’ll let you do that. Call me if you need me though. _

__ _ Or even if you just want to talk. _

 

Lance couldn’t help the sappy little smile that crossed his face when he read the texts that Keith had sent For all his prickly outer demeanor, he was surprisingly sweet and considerate.

He heard an interested noise from the other couch and looked up. Hunk was staring at him with an unreadable expression, so intensely that it made him squirm.

“What’s up, Hunkarooni?”

His eyes flicked back down to his phone for a moment.

 

**To: Papí**

**9:54pm**

_ don’t worry papí we kinda talked it over _

__ _ I think Hunk’s gonna give me the third degree later tho :/ _

 

**From: Papí**

**9:55pm**

_ Is everything okay?? _

 

**To: Papí**

**9:56pm**

__ _ ye everything’s cool _

__ _ Hunk’s just a worrywart _

__ _ he probably just wants to make sure ur not taking advantage of me lol _

 

**From: Papí**

**9:58pm**

_ I could talk to him if you want? _

 

**To: Papí**

**9:58pm**

__ _ aww papí _

__ _ I can’t believe ud offer to get the shovel talk from Hunk lol _

__ _ it’s alright tho _

__ _ I wouldn’t wanna make u uncomfy haha _

 

Hunk cleared his throat, and Lance’s head snapped up guiltily. He locked his phone screen and gave Hunk and apologetic smile.

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. I’m just.. Curious.”

Lance shifted uncomfortably, thoughts racing through his brain as he considered what exactly Hunk might be curious about. There was the obvious, sure, but Hunk was a lot more perceptive that people tended to give him credit for. He wasn’t sure if maybe Hunk had picked up on something. Or maybe he’d heard something while Lance was on the phone.

Nope. He needed to stop that train of thought. He had to be smooth, cool, or he’d give himself away if Hunk hadn’t figured it out. Which, there was a good chance that he hadn’t. After all, he reasoned to himself, who jumped to the sugar baby conclusion seriously? Just because he’d joked about it and been right didn’t mean that everyone else was like that. He knew that his brain when to weird places that other people didn’t. Mentally shaking himself, he stretched himself out on the couch, forcing himself to look natural.

“Curious about what?”

Hunk hummed, shifting further back on the couch. “Mostly, you and Keith. I mean, you haven’t said anything about him since you both worked on that project. When did you guys start talking again? How did all of that happen?”

Lance shrugged. “I mean, really, it was all kind of an accident. I called him a while back because I wanted to see if he still had my number. I think I might have been drunk or something. I’m not really sure. All I know was that I thought of something stupid and went through with it. But we talked on the phone for a little while, and then he invited me to lunch. And the rest is history.”

He laughed shakily. It was halfway true, he supposed.

Hunk considered his explanation for a moment, then shrugged and nodded. “That makes sense.”

Lance smiled, relieved that Hunk had accepted his rambling excuse. “Yeah. I’m pretty happy. I didn’t expect things to go as well as they did.”

Hunk smiled back, expression fond. “I’m glad. Really, I am.” Leaning forward, he gave Lance a conspiratorial look. “So, when do I get to meet Keith officially as your boyfriend? Shiro too. I need to make sure that they’re going to treat you right.”

“Nooo,” Lance moaned. “I was dreading this.”

Hunk laughed. “It’s my job as your best friend. I need to know what their intentions are.”

Lance looked heavenward, praying silently. He knew that it would be difficult to keep this from Hunk, since his friend knew him so well and all. But he hadn’t had time to think everything through, and Hunk had so many questions.

“I dunno,” he hedged. “I mean, this thing with Keith is so new, and I don’t know where exactly we stand yet. And Shiro… Well, I’m not really dating him. Things are a lot more casual on that end.”

He bit his lip. “I kind of just need a little time to figure out where we all fit into this relationship before I bring them here for you to interrogate them.”

He’d never expected to feel this guilty.

But he just knew that Hunk would never understand.

Hunk tilted his head to the side. “What’s wrong, buddy?”

Lance looked up at Hunk, unsure what his friend meant. “Huh?”

The couch cushion next to him dipped as Hunk sat down next to him. “You looked sad for a moment there, like you were thinking about something upsetting. What’s up?”

Lance bit his lip. He didn’t know what he was going to tell him. Shrugging, he looked away. “I don’t know. It’s stupid.”

A warm hand landed on his arm, comforting in its presence. “You know that you can tell me anything, right?”

He sighed quietly, breathing deep and closing his eyes. “What if I’m not good enough for this?”

That was a fear that he hadn’t wanted to think about. But there it was, in all its ugly, insecure glory.

“What do you mean?” Hunk’s voice was soft, soothing, and Lance couldn’t help but turn to lean into him, burying his face in Hunk’s shoulder.

“I mean, what if this doesn’t work? I… I’ve never done anything like this before. I don’t know what to do, and I’m scared that if I have to keep asking all of these questions, if I keep being so clueless, then Shiro and Keith are going to get rid of me. And I know that it’s probably really weird to you, but I need them.”

Hunk ran a comforting hand through Lance’s hair, scratching at his scalp in the way that they both knew he loved.

“Hey, it’s okay.”

“Is it really, though?”

The hand in his hair rubbed a little more firmly, making his eyes flutter as tingles ran down his spine. He made a comforted noise, shifting so that he could lay his head in Hunk’s lap.

“Of course it is,” he soothed, and Lance whimpered, reaching out to wrap a hand around Hunk’s leg.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because you’ve been my best friend since we were kids. I know everything about you. I’ve seen you grow and fall, at your best and at your worst. And I  _ know _ , with every fiber of my being, that you deserve love. You deserve good things. Are Keith and Shiro going to be good to you?”

“They’ve been nothing but amazing,” Lance mumbled.

“Then as long as you talk to them, as long as you’re open and true to that amazing self that I know you don’t let many people see, they’re going to  _ love _ you.”

Lance’s heart skipped in his chest.

Love? Probably not. He knew that this was just a business transaction, a ‘you scratch my back, I scratch yours’ arrangement based on mutual benefit.

But maybe, just maybe, when this was all said and done, and Lance had picked himself up by getting a job, they could be something more. He’d really like that.

As Hunk rubbed his back and scalp, calming him and bringing him back from his moment of creeping panic, Lance reached down and grabbed his phone from where it had been pressed against his thigh. He’d felt it vibrate, and he wanted to know if it was Keith texting him.

When the screen flashed on, and he saw the  **New Message: Papí** notification, his heart skipped, and he couldn’t help but smile at the phone. In a flurry of taps and swipes, he’d unlocked it and was staring at the latest message from Keith.

 

**From: Papí**

**10:01pm**

_ Nothing that would make you happy could ever make me uncomfortable _ .

 

He couldn’t help the warmth that bloomed in his chest, and as he typed back a playful response, he let himself imagine a future where he had that same love that Shiro and Keith shared.


End file.
